Pavlov Conditioning for Deer

[hesseu]

So...I was in deep thought while I was driving. During the summer months...or offseason for that matter...When one is supplemental feeding, and using a timed feeder, why not also time the dispersal of a scent (let's just say some sort of essential oil or whatever) at the same time of the feeder going off. Then, an association of that scent and the feeder releasing food would transpire over a certain time frame. Now, come hunting season, when one gets to their stand, they apply this essential oil or scent.

So, who's going to be the guinea pig and try this out?!

 

[Charles Clear]

I knew guys who would throw some corn into a coffee can and shake the can. I sound sounded exactly like a spinner feeder going off. No lie, the deer would come running to the sound. These deer were fed all summer at spinner feeders though.

 

[yoderjac]

Just depends on where you draw the ethical line I guess...

 

[Native Hunter]

Not me - I don't need to try it. I found the Cornholer and have never looked back or needed anything else...………….

 

[wiscwhip]

Now that's funny right there!!! ^^^

 

[hesseu]

It's just another hunting tactic...right?!

 

[SwampCat]

My wife and I ride around our property every other evening on the side by side. I coon hunt af night and I hog hunt at night. I put corn in the feeder regularly to attract hogs so I can kill them. Our deer, including our biggest bucks pay very little attention to me - often not running when only 100 yards away. But, since my property isnt near large enough for them to stay on all the time - they still go on full alert when all the neighbors start hunting - but nine months out of the year - they are like Pavlov’s dog and pretty tame when I am around.

 

[Turkey Creek]

If you are so inclined hang some worn clothing in close proximity to the feeder. They will get used to the smell over time.

 

[Goldentriangle]

Not me - I don't need to try it. I found the Cornholer and have never looked back or needed anything else...………….

This has to be the funniest post I've ever seen in these forums! I literally laughed so hard I almost peed. Internet gold right there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[yoderjac]

It's just another hunting tactic...right?!

My ethical line is drawn well before baiting but that is not true for everyone...

 

[hesseu]

My ethical line is drawn well before baiting but that is not true for everyone...

I think what you've hit on is quite interesting. There is definitely an difference in the ethical line of hunting for survival, vs a way of provision and sport. If I was hunting to survive, I would do whatever it took to bring in the game.

 

[Baker]

I find the original post pretty darn funny. Creative thinking in the off season.

That said my experience is similar to Swampcat. There are people driving around my farm all the time. In the summer when the does are heavy pregnant and or newly nursing they are hungry most of the time. Not unusual to drive by fairly close with them watching but not wanting to leave the food source. They get quite used to seeing the traffic and learn nothing bad happens. Mellows them out I think, very pavlovian. Don't have the same experience with the bucks. Excepting the yearlings for the most part bucks are gone at first sighting irrespective of distance.

Along with that I don't allow any shooting of anything from vehicles and am very particular about how does get shot in the fall. Do as much as possible not to associate man with danger.

 

[hesseu]

@SwampCat and @Baker that's one of things Lee Lakosky says is key for him. Now, I know he owns / manages thousands of prime acres, but he talks about how he is all the time on his farms checking the camera's (every few days) and doing work in his food plots, etc. He talks about them getting used to seeing him (just like subdivision deer do with human presence). But, he does mention that he stays out of his woods and only has a few (compared to his field / food plot locations) treestands located in the woods for "only when necessary".

 

[j-bird]

Some deer handle human traffic far better than others. Being in farm country the deer here know the sounds of the equipment and the smell of people and the like. The thing is WHEN and WHERE this happens. I have being on my own tractor mowing and had deer 30 yards away look up from feeding like, "Hey! I'm eating here, you want to knock that noisy crap off!" And then just trot off. They hear the equipment coming and thus I don't sneak up on them. They spook more when I am on foot because I can get far closer before they realize I am there. They also expect to smell me in food plots and along equipment trails and the like. Yet I am sure they are not as tolerant when I get adventurous and wander from the norm.

I know I watched a special on TV once and they talked about the deer in Germany and how when the iron curtain came down how the deer from either side would not cross where the fence once was and how it took generations of deer before it was no longer a mental barrier to them. So I am very sure you can train deer to accept or do certain things over enough time. I am certain deer know which properties have more regular human activity and which ones don't. So I am sure you can condition the deer to NOT associate a smell with danger or to associate a certain smell with something positive. That is why the warning labels are on the doe piss bottle about not putting it on your clothes!

 

[Baker]

I've often considered using the John Deere as a blind.

 

[Tap]

I knew guys who would throw some corn into a coffee can and shake the can. I sound sounded exactly like a spinner feeder going off. No lie, the deer would come running to the sound. These deer were fed all summer at spinner feeders though.

I did that with a 5 gallon bucket. Deer and turkey would literally come running (in the winter time).

No doubt in my mind that we can condition deer to just about anything. The sound of a chainsaw is a dinner bell. They pay no attention to my tractor. I can handle trail cams near my home (where deer are used to smelling me) with bare hands. I can walk into my plots wearing crocs and deer pay no attention to my ground scent...even 15 minutes later. I know that to be true because I watch it happen from my home all the time.

We also condition deer to look up into trees. Sloppy stand set-ups with no back cover, or careless movement while deer are present have conditioned deer to look up as much as they look anywhere else. Which makes me wonder...If deer are looking up so much, have they also been conditioned to recognize what a "stand" is, and if so, will some (mature) deer avoid the area?

We condition deer when, all of a sudden, 2 weeks before bow season, there are humans walking in places where they haven't walked since the end of the last hunting season.
Yeah, we condition and educate deer all the time. Now, would the OP's thought of adding a scent or oil condition them to come to us thinking there is food? As long as our human odor mixes with the other oil/scent, I doubt many deer will fall for it under hunting or daylight conditions. Same with cover scents. If you think deer cannot sort-out thousands of odors all at the same time, then you don't truly understand how amazing their olfactory system is.

 

[yoderjac]

I think what you've hit on is quite interesting. There is definitely an difference in the ethical line of hunting for survival, vs a way of provision and sport. If I was hunting to survive, I would do whatever it took to bring in the game.

True, but if I was hunting for survival, I would not be expending resources feeding deer.

 

[yoderjac]

I did that with a 5 gallon bucket. Deer and turkey would literally come running (in the winter time).

No doubt in my mind that we can condition deer to just about anything. The sound of a chainsaw is a dinner bell. They pay no attention to my tractor. I can handle trail cams near my home (where deer are used to smelling me) with bare hands. I can walk into my plots wearing crocs and deer pay no attention to my ground scent...even 15 minutes later. I know that to be true because I watch it happen from my home all the time.

We also condition deer to look up into trees. Sloppy stand set-ups with no back cover, or careless movement while deer are present have conditioned deer to look up as much as they look anywhere else. Which makes me wonder...If deer are looking up so much, have they also been conditioned to recognize what a "stand" is, and if so, will some (mature) deer avoid the area?

We condition deer when, all of a sudden, 2 weeks before bow season, there are humans walking in places where they haven't walked since the end of the last hunting season.
Yeah, we condition and educate deer all the time. Now, would the OP's thought of adding a scent or oil condition them to come to us thinking there is food? As long as our human odor mixes with the other oil/scent, I doubt many deer will fall for it under hunting or daylight conditions. Same with cover scents. If you think deer cannot sort-out thousands of odors all at the same time, then you don't truly understand how amazing their olfactory system is.

You are absolutely right that we can condition deer to anything. Herd management in the suburbs demonstrates this. I know one guy who would use a particular cologne as an attractant scent. This was in the suburbs hunting on a couple acre lot. The objective was deer reduction with any legal means possible, not sport hunting. It turned out the guy down the street was feeding the deer and the cologne was the brand he used.

This all goes to the previous post about ethics. I make completely different ethical choices in my recreational sport hunting than I do when supporting deer reduction efforts to help deer with the issue associated with over population.

Thanks,

Jack